"Who's on First? ""Who's on First?"" is a comedy routine made famous by Abbott and Costello. The premise of the sketch is that Abbott is identifying the players on a baseball team for Costello, but their names and nicknames can be interpreted as non-responsive answers to Costello's questions. For example, the first baseman is named ""Who""; thus, the utterance ""Who's on first"" is ambiguous between the question (""Which person is the first baseman?"") and the answer (""The name of the first baseman is 'Who). ""Who's on First?"" is descended from turn-of-the-century burlesque sketches that used plays on words and names."
"team's players had ""strange nicknames"" that seemed to be questions, became known as ""Who's on First?"" Some versions continue with references to Enos Slaughter, which Costello misunderstands as ""He knows"" Slaughter. By 1944, Abbott and Costello had the routine copyrighted. Abbott and Costello performed ""Who's on First?"" numerous times in their careers, rarely performing it exactly the same way twice. They did the routine for President Franklin Roosevelt several times. An abridged version was featured in the team's 1940 film debut, ""One Night in the Tropics"". The duo reprised the bit in their 1945 film ""The Naughty Nineties"", and it"
"Abbott and Costello Abbott and Costello were an American comedy duo composed of Bud Abbott and Lou Costello, whose work on radio and in film and television made them the most popular comedy team of the 1940s and early 1950s. Their patter routine ""Who's on First?"" is one of the best-known comedy routines of all time in the world, and set the framework for many of their best-known comedy bits. While they had crossed paths a few times prior, the two comedians first worked together in 1935 at the Eltinge Burlesque Theater on 42nd Street in New York City, which"
"radio audience on March 24, 1938 when the team were regulars on the Kate Smith radio show. By then, John Grant had been writing or adapting other sketches for the team and may have helped expand ""Who's On First?"" prior to its radio debut. He stayed on as their head writer into the 1950s. Depending upon the version, Abbott has either organized a new baseball team and the players have nicknames, or he points out the proliferation of nicknames in baseball (citing St. Louis Cardinals sibling pitchers Dizzy and Daffy Dean) before launching into the routine. The infielders' nicknames are"
"base). Allie Watt Albert Bailey ""Allie"" Watt (December 12, 1899 – March 15, 1968) was a Major League Baseball player who played in with the Washington Senators. Watt was the brother of former Major Leaguer, Frank Watt. He was born in Philadelphia, and died in Norfolk, Virginia. With a double in his only turn at-bat, Watt is one of the rare Major Leaguers with a career batting average of 1.000. Watt is doubly notable because he is one of the few real players whose name is in the correct position in the famous Who's on First? comedy routine (Watt played"
"Allie Watt Albert Bailey ""Allie"" Watt (December 12, 1899 – March 15, 1968) was a Major League Baseball player who played in with the Washington Senators. Watt was the brother of former Major Leaguer, Frank Watt. He was born in Philadelphia, and died in Norfolk, Virginia. With a double in his only turn at-bat, Watt is one of the rare Major Leaguers with a career batting average of 1.000. Watt is doubly notable because he is one of the few real players whose name is in the correct position in the famous Who's on First? comedy routine (Watt played second"
"Who (first base), What (second base) and I Don't Know (third base). The key to the routine is Costello's mounting frustration set against Abbott's unyielding formality. Audio recordings are readily available on the Internet. A notable version is the first television performance on the 1951 Colgate Comedy Hour. ""Who's on First?"" is believed to be available in as many as twenty versions, ranging from one minute to up to ten minutes. The team could time the routine at will, adding or deleting portions as needed for films, radio or television. The longest version is seen in ""The Actors' Home"" episode"
"""The Abbott and Costello Show"" originally ran for only two seasons, it found a larger viewership in reruns from the 1960s to the 1990s. The shows have also been released in three different DVD sets over the years. ""Who's on First?"" is Abbott and Costello's signature routine. TIME magazine (December 26, 1999) named it the best comedy routine of the 20th century. The sketch was based on other earlier burlesque wordplay routines. They began honing the routine shortly after teaming up in 1936, and performed it in vaudeville acts in 1937 and 1938. It was first heard by a national"
"Baseball's Greatest Hits Baseball's Greatest Hits is the name of two different CD collections of songs and other recordings connected with baseball, released in 1989. The eclectic collections include vintage songs such as Les Brown's ""Joltin' Joe DiMaggio"" from 1941, Teresa Brewer's 1956 number ""I Love Mickey"" (with a cameo by Mickey Mantle himself), and Danny Kaye's humorous 1962 recording about the Los Angeles Dodgers. Spoken entries include verbiage such as Russ Hodges' call of Bobby Thomson's pennant-winning home run in 1951, Tommy Lasorda's rant about Dave Kingman, and the Abbott and Costello classic, ""Who's on First?"". However, due to"
"linguistics and miscommunication, it mirrors themes of the ""Who's on First?"" Routine. The names also have significance in the film because the heptapod named Abbott is taller and quieter while the heptapod named Costello is shorter and chattier, just as the real Abbott and Costello were on their shows. Abbott and Costello Abbott and Costello were an American comedy duo composed of Bud Abbott and Lou Costello, whose work on radio and in film and television made them the most popular comedy team of the 1940s and early 1950s. Their patter routine ""Who's on First?"" is one of the best-known"
"The Naughty Nineties The Naughty Nineties is a 1945 film starring the comedy team of Abbott and Costello. It is notable for containing a filmed version of the duo's ""Who's on First?"" routine. This version is shown at the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in Cooperstown. The time is the 1890s. Captain Sam (Henry Travers), owner of the showboat ""River Queen"", travels along the Mississippi River bringing honest entertainment to each town. At a stop in Ironville, he meets Crawford (Alan Curtis), Bonita (Rita Johnson), and Bailey (Joe Sawyer), who are wanted by the local sheriff. Against the"
"a larger split of their salary, and Abbott agreed. Abbott and Costello were signed by the William Morris talent agency, which succeeded in landing them featured roles and national exposure on ""The Kate Smith Hour"", a popular variety show, in 1938. The team's signature routine, ""Who's on First?"", made its radio debut on Smith's show that year. Many of the team's sketches were further polished by John Grant, who was hired soon after the team joined the radio show. They had their own program, ""The Abbott and Costello Show"", on radio from 1942 to 1949. Their success on the Smith"
"a television special ""Abbott and Costello Meet Jerry Seinfeld"" (the title refers to the duo's popular film series in which they met some of Universal's famed horror picture characters), on NBC; the special was said to have been seen in 20 million homes. Although they are not inductees of the Hall itself, Abbott and Costello are among the few non-baseball personnel to be memorialized in the Baseball Hall of Fame. A plaque and a gold record of the ""Who's On First?"" sketch have been on permanent display there since 1956, and the routine runs on an endless video loop in"
"the exhibit area. The comedy group ""The Credibility Gap"" performed a rock and roll update of ""Who's on First?"" using the names of rock groups The Who, The Guess Who, and Yes, recorded and released on their first album, ""The Bronze Age of Radio"". In the 1988 movie ""Rain Man"", Dustin Hoffman's autistic character Raymond Babbitt recites an affectless ""Who's on First?"" as a defense mechanism. NBC's ""Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip"" (2006), a drama about life backstage at a television comedy series, used ""Who's on First?"" as a plot device. On the January 13, 2001 episode of ""Saturday"
"Houston Astros, Scully, Fernando Valenzuela and Steve Yeager worked together to throw out the ceremonial first pitch at Dodger Stadium. Harry Shearer has impersonated Scully in a sketch for ""Saturday Night Live"", and has used the voice for ""The Simpsons"" when the storyline includes the fictional team the Springfield Isotopes. San Francisco Giants broadcaster Jon Miller is known for his impersonation of Scully. Chris Cox has appeared on the comedy podcast series ""Sklarbro Country"" as the character ""Racist Vin Scully"". Scully received the Ford Frick Award from the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1982, and was honored with a"
"of the 20th Century. An early radio recording was placed in the Library of Congress's National Recording Registry in 2003. In 2005, the line ""Who's on First?"" was included on the American Film Institute's list of 100 memorable movie quotations. The names given in the routine for the players at each position are: The name of the shortstop is not given until the very end of the routine, and the right fielder is never identified. In the Selchow and Righter board game, the right fielder's name is ""Nobody"". At one point in the routine, Costello thinks that the first baseman"
"""Who's on First?"", was ranked No. 91 on American Film Institute's 100 Movie Quotes. The ""Who's on First?"" routine was intended to appear much earlier in the film. Costello begins the routine by saying, ""When we get to St. Louis..."", but at this point in the film they are already in St. Louis. The camera crew can be heard laughing in the background during the routine. The film also contains the ""Lower/Higher"" routine, where Costello auditions as a singer while Abbott shouts directions to the stage crew to change the height and placement of the backdrop curtain. Costello believes Abbott"
"the Seattle Pilots. Before the Pilots even played their first game in 1969, Seattle radio disc jockey Robert E. Lee ""Bob"" Hardwick looked over the list of players drafted by the Pilots, discovered Oyler's batting average and created the ""Ray Oyler Fan Club"", initially as a radio bit on his radio show. Grabbing onto the popularity of the late 1960s Laugh-In show's ""Sock it to Me"" catchphrase, the fan club was called the Ray Oyler ""S.O.C. I.T. T.O. M.E. .300"" Club, meaning ""Slugger Oyler Can, In Time, Top Our Manager's Estimate"" and hit .300. Some 15,000 baseball-starved fans signed up,"
"Their informal banter was so appealing that WHDH would call on them, as a team, to fill in when Red Sox baseball broadcasts were rained out. Elliott and Goulding (not yet known as Bob and Ray) would improvise comedy routines all afternoon, and joke around with studio musicians. Elliott and Goulding's brand of humor caught on, and WHDH gave them their own weekday show in 1946. ""Matinee with Bob and Ray"" was originally a 15-minute show, soon expanding to half an hour. (When explaining why Bob was billed first, Goulding claimed that it was because ""Matinee with Bob and Ray"""
"baseball. The 1927 Pittsburgh Pirates, with MVP Paul Waner, led the National League in runs, hits, batting average and on-base percentage. The 1927 New York Yankees had perhaps the most feared line-up in the history of baseball. Nicknamed ""Murderers Row,"" their batting order boasted the all-time great Babe Ruth at the top of his considerable powers, hitting .356 with a then-record 60 home runs and 164 RBI that year. He was complemented by future Hall of Famers Lou Gehrig at first base, who hit .373 with 47 home runs and a league-leading 175 RBI, Tony Lazzeri at second base who"
"Comiskey is sometimes credited with the innovation of playing the first base position behind first base or inside the foul line, a practice which has since become common. Later he had played a large role in the dissolution of the National Commission, baseball's former body of authority, following a quarrel with Ban Johnson. He was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1939. Comiskey died in Eagle River, Wisconsin in 1931. Comiskey's son J. Louis inherited the team but died a few years later. The trustees of his estate were going to sell the team, but J. Louis'"
"games"" by four wins. In the World Series, he and his brother won two games apiece, combining for a 4-1 record, 28 strikeouts and a 1.43 ERA, as the Cardinals took the series against the Detroit Tigers in seven games. The following year, he won 19 games again. He got injured, however, and pitched ineffectively for the rest of his career. Dean is featured prominently in some versions of Abbott & Costello's Who's on First comedy sketch. In the sketch Abbott is explaining to Costello that many ballplayers have unusual nicknames including Dizzy Dean, his brother Daffy Dean and their"
"at Yankee Stadium. Latham was considered one of the funniest players in baseball. Nicknamed ""The Freshest Man on Earth"", Latham was a colorful player known for playing practical jokes, including on Browns owner Chris von der Ahe and manager Charles Comiskey. In one famous stunt, he lit a firecracker under third base in an effort to ""wake himself up"", after Comiskey had been complaining about him falling asleep on the job. Also he would occasionally put on a clown's nose while walking behind von der Ahe. A practical joke Latham pulled on Seymour in March 1909 caused a fight between"
"of their filmed TV series, running approximately eight minutes. A live performance commemorating the opening day of the Lou Costello Jr Youth Foundation in 1947 was recorded, and has been included in numerous comedy albums. The team's final performance of ""Who's on First?"" on TV was on Steve Allen's variety show in 1957. Abbott and Costello both married perfomers they met in burlesque. Abbott wed Betty Smith, a dancer and comedienne, in 1918, and Costello married a chorus girl, Anne Battler, in 1934. The Costellos had four children; the Abbotts adopted two. Abbott and Costello faced personal demons at times."
"Theatre on 125th Street. On Wednesday, September 23, against the Chicago Cubs, 19-year-old Fred Merkle committed a base running error that later became known as ""Merkle's Boner"", and earned Merkle the nickname of ""Bonehead."" In the bottom of the 9th inning, he came up to bat with two outs, and the score tied 1–1. At the time, Moose McCormick was on first base. Merkle singled, and McCormick advanced to third. Al Bridwell, the next batter, followed with a single of his own. McCormick went home, apparently scoring the winning run of the game. The fans in attendance, under the impression"
"Their Times"" about the early ballplayer/comedian Germany Schaefer. According to Jones, Schaefer was the only player who ever stole first base in a ballgame. The incident evidently took place on September 4, 1908, during a Detroit game versus Cleveland. With Davy Jones on third and Schaefer at first, the double steal was on. But as Schaefer slid into second base safe, the Cleveland catcher held onto the ball. In order to set up the double-steal again, Schaefer took off screaming for first on the next pitch and dove in headfirst in without a play. This stunned the players, fans and"
"tennis pro. I have many lives."" Abbott and Costello often performed a baseball comedy routine, ""Who's on First?"" which they perfected during their years in vaudeville. Gordon has been credited with writing ""Who's on first?"" although others have also claimed authorship. Gordon is noted for his contribution to music and lyrics of the Americana genre. For examples it was commonly thought that his song ""Two Brothers"" was a folk song about the civil war. For several years before his death he was writing a musical about Sigmund Freud. Irving Gordon died of lymphoma cancer in Malibu, California. He was survived"
"another frequent topic of discussion was the Chicago Bulls basketball team, and their star player, Michael Jordan, who were winning their first three NBA Championships at the time. Both Ditka and Jordan would make appearances (playing themselves) in episodes of the sketch. SNL alumnus Dan Aykroyd also appeared on the sketch as Todd's cousin, Irwin Mainway, who originated in the ""Consumer Probe"" and ""On the Spot"" sketches. Early sketches had posters in the background with the call letters WBBM, the CBS O&O TV, AM and FM stations in Chicago, though later sketches changed the call letters to WCBM. The group"
"races in both the AL and NL were among the most exciting ever witnessed. The conclusion of the National League season, in particular, involved a bizarre chain of events, often referred to as the Merkle Boner. On September 23, 1908, the New York Giants and Chicago Cubs played a game in the Polo Grounds. Nineteen-year-old rookie first baseman Fred Merkle, later to become one of the best players at his position in the league, was on first base, with teammate Moose McCormick on third with two outs and the game tied. Giants shortstop Al Bridwell socked a single, scoring McCormick"
"in to help the Giants finish in second place, two games behind the St. Louis Cardinals. He finished 8th in the balloting for the National League Most Valuable Player Award. He was part of a vaudeville act, telling jokes and singing parodies with Andy Cohen, a Jewish teammate from the Giants who played second baseman for the team. After the 1928 season they started performing on the Loew Circuit, with their first appearance on stage at the Loew's Commodore Theatre in Manhattan on October 15, 1928. The duo earned $1,800 a week, billed as ""Cohen & Hogan"", except in Boston,"
"Done It?"" was re-released in 1949 with ""Keep 'Em Flying"", and in 1954 with ""Ride 'Em Cowboy"". There are two references to the team's popular ""Who's on First?"" routine. During the murder scene, Abbott confuses Costello with the ""volts-and-watts"" routine. Lou bleats, ""Next you'll be telling me Watt's on second base!"" Later, in the radio giveaway program scene, Bud and Lou tune the radio to a broadcast of their own ""Who's on First?"" routine, which they promptly turn off. After completion of this film, Abbott and Costello began a tour of the United States to help promote the selling of"
"were also used to lampoon the (often struggling) Reds baseball team (""""The Reds and the Restless"","" """"The Hunt for Reds October"""") and the Cincinnati Bengals (""""All My Bengals""""). Burbank also hit the Top 100 in 1980 with the song ""Who Shot J. R.?"", a novelty record about the cliffhanger on that year's season finale of ""Dallas"". Another feature of his show was the sports trivia quiz show ""Sports or Consequences"" which ran during the 4:00 hour during his afternoon show on 700 WLW. The show was unusual in that the callers asked the hosts (Burbank and his supporting cast, plus"
"How to Play Baseball How to Play Baseball is a cartoon produced by Walt Disney Productions and released by RKO Radio Pictures in September 1942, produced at the request of Samuel Goldwyn and first shown to accompany the 1942 feature film ""The Pride of the Yankees"". Goofy takes the time to demonstrate America's national pastime, then plays a game - one in which he plays all the bases. The short describes the basics of baseball in humorous terms; the equipment, uniforms, positions, and pitches, as well as the mannerisms of the players. It then switches to a game in progress,"